


Recommended Reading

by Thia (Jennaria)



Category: R.O.D: Read or Die & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/F, F/M, Misses Clause Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-20
Updated: 2013-12-20
Packaged: 2018-01-05 05:41:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1090269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jennaria/pseuds/Thia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Of course she remembers people by what books they read (or sometimes the books they write).  But it's more complicated than just that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Recommended Reading

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hsifeng](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hsifeng/gifts).



Nancy looked around at the shelves and shelves of books, eyes wide. Yomiko watched her, unable to suppress a smile of her own. Sometimes Nancy reminded her more of a kid in one of Yomiko's classes than she did of...of…of Other Nancy. The first Nancy. The real Nancy, but as soon as the thought crossed Yomiko's mind, she squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head to clear it away. Both Nancys were _real_. It was simply, well. Complicated.

When Yomiko opened her eyes again, she found Nancy looking at her, still eyes wide and happy. Nancy didn't ask why Yomiko had been shaking her head. Instead, she said, "Thank you, Yomiko-san!"

"You're welcome," Yomiko said, because what else could she say?

Fortunately, Nancy looked away then, back up at the shelves of books. "Where should we start?" She raised one hand as if to take a book down from the shelf, hesitated, then lowered it again. "Yomiko-san?"

"Er," Yomiko said. "Well."

1) _The Art of War_ (Sun Tzu, trans. into English by Joseph Carpenter)

Nancy took the book and turned it over in her hands, looking at it curiously. 'I didn't think you were interested in war, Yomiko-san."

Yomiko laughed, one hand coming up to uneasily rub the back of her head. "I'm not! But I remember, the first time I met someone important, that was the book he was reading."

Nancy's eyes softened. "Someone special?"

"No! No, no, not like that at all! It was…"

It was Joker. Back then, she was still Donnie's student, a girl who wasn't anywhere close to becoming The Paper, and she'd been brought upstairs to be introduced to everyone. Most of them had papers or computers in front of them. She'd noticed Joker because he had a book on the corner of his desk.

Of course she swooped on it. "The Art of War! In Chinese!"

Donnie had laughed behind her, and she'd remembered enough to look up at the man whose book she'd just stolen. "I'm sorry, Carpenter-san!" She didn't let go of the book.

"Joker, please," he'd said, smiling at her. He had a cup of tea steaming in front of him. "Have you read it before?"

"Only in translation," she admitted. "I haven't had the chance to read Chinese yet."

She didn't remember now, whether he'd even blinked at that. Probably not. "Please, feel free to borrow it," Joker said. "So long as you return it - I, too, am working on a translation."

"Are you interested in war, Joker-san?" 

He'd smiled again. "I am interested in preventing war."

She wanted to believe, now, that it hadn't been a lie. She didn't know for sure. Maybe the answer would be in the translation. But maybe not. Authors said what they meant: translators didn't.

2) _Champagne and Lemon Drops_ , by Janet Roberts

Their first night there, Yomiko unpacked her bags. The contents were only half books - she'd restrained herself firmly, telling herself that they were going to a _library_ , she didn't _need_ to bring everything, she needed to leave and leave now. She expected Nancy to stay absorbed in the book she was reading. Instead, Yomiko sat back on her heels from adjusting the stack of books next to the futon, and saw Nancy watching her instead. "Nancy? Are you all right?"

Nancy leaned past her to pick up the book on the top of the pile. "I noticed this," she said. "It's so brightly colored."

"It's American," Yomiko said. "One of my co-workers gave it to me."

His name was Drake Anderson. They hadn't known each other all that well: he'd known she loved reading, she knew he had a young daughter. Then, after their second - or was it third? - assignment together, he'd turned up afterwards with this bright yellow book and an abashed expression on his face. "My daughter picked this out," he said, and offered it with both hands.

She'd read it, of course. She read everything. It wasn't as silly as the front cover made it look - in addition to the bright yellow, it featured a young woman lounging in the bath, only partially covered by frothy bubbles. She was drinking from a narrow glass of champagne, and was reaching down beside the tub for a bag of candy. One foot, extended out of the water, had an even brighter red high-heeled shoe dangling from it.

Drake never asked her about it, though. In fact, he seemed to prefer to pretend he'd never given her the book in the first place. Yomiko found this confusing - weren't you supposed to _talk_ about books? Or was this like that thing where people wanted her to stop talking about books entirely?

Yomiko blinked. Nancy was still leaning in, almost leaning on her, and she still had the book in her hands. She was watching Yomiko with the same sweet, curious look she seemed to keep for Yomiko especially. What had Yomiko been saying? Oh, right. "You may read it, if you want to."

"Thank you," Nancy said, and smiled at her.

3) _Valley Of The Shadow_ , by Chiwa Saito

A librarian had brought them another week's supply of food. Yomiko thanked her absently, then realized the librarian hadn't immediately left again. She looked up from her current book. "How can I help you?"

"Oh, no, I'm fine," the librarian said. "I only wanted to be sure that _you_ were fine. Under the circumstances."

"It's excellent," Yomiko assured her. "I'm having a wonderful time." It occurred to her, belatedly, that perhaps she shouldn't say that. But she _was_ enjoying herself, despite running for her life and having to hide from one of the great powers of the world. She had all the books she could possibly want, and all the time she wanted to read them. How could that be terrible?

The librarian smiled at her, so she must not have said anything _too_ terrible. "And your friend?"

"She's also doing well," Yomiko said.

It was enough for the librarian, but Yomiko went back to her cubby, deep in the shelves, in a more thoughtful mood. She hadn't actually thought to ask how Nancy was doing, and she'd been told before that she needed to remember that not everyone loved books the way she did.

She found Nancy shoulder-deep in a shelf, a look of concentration on her face.

"...Nancy?"

"Almost," Nancy said, which didn't make any sense, until she slowly pulled her arm back out of the shelf with a book in her hand. She bounced on her toes and hugged the book to herself, turned around, and only then seemed to notice that Yomiko was standing there. "Yomiko-san! I'm sorry, I didn't realize!"

"It's all right," Yomiko said gently. "We got our food for the week. Did you find a new book?"

"Yes! It was buried in the middle, in between the books on other shelves. It must have fallen there.." Nancy frowned down at the book, then held it out to Yomiko, as if she'd heard the gasp Yomiko hadn't been able to stifle, but not understood it. "Have you read it before?"

Yes. Yes, she had.

It had been fairly early in her training, back when Donnie was still as much a beautiful mystery as he was her teacher. They'd started the lesson, as usual, by talking about what books they'd read recently. Yomiko didn't remember what books she'd talked about, but Donnie had just finished _Valley of the Shadow_. A spy novel, as Yomiko remembered. He'd liked the action scenes, but thought the author had silly ideas about politics. 

He'd laughed at the end, and said, "Not that it matters."

"Sensei?"

"Books are important, Yomiko-chan. But to a Paper Master, they're more than just books."

He'd paused there, as if waiting for her to fill it in, but she hadn't understood. "They're ideas?" She knew it was wrong - what did ideas have to do with silly politics? - but she hadn't been able to come up with anything else.

"No," Donnie had said, with that odd half-smile he got sometimes. "They're ammunition." With a flick of his wrist, the book fluttered to the ground by his feet, only an empty cover left, while the pages fanned up into the air behind him in a looming wall of defense.

Yomiko stared up at him, horrified. "Nakajima-sensei!"

"No harm done," he said gently, and with another flick of his wrist, the paper poured back into the book. When it was all gone, he opened his hand in a silent gesture of invitation. Yomiko cautiously knelt down and, with a wary look up at him, picked up the book. The pages didn't _feel_ loose, and they seemed to be all in order. But she'd just seen - and with a _book_!

"Books are important," Donnie had repeated. Standing there, over her kneeling figure, his eyes had been invisible in shadow. "But if you had to choose between books and people, Yomiko-chan - which would you choose?"

She'd hesitated, to her shame, and said pitifully, "Is it a book I haven't read?"

Fortunately, Donnie burst out laughing, and didn't ask again. Not right then.

She'd been asked again since then. Not in words, like Donnie. Just to make that choice. She hoped she'd made the right one. 

"Yes," she said now to Nancy. "Yes, once."

"Did you like it?"

"Mostly. Some part of it were silly." Yomiko found a smile somewhere. "But you should read it for yourself and see!"

4) _Midnight Liberation Zone_ , by Nenene Sumiregawa

"--and the part where Reiko goes into the cave to confront the yuurei, it's so _beautiful_! I got to read a little bit while she was writing it, but she didn't--" Yomiko paused, realizing that Nancy hadn't said anything in a while. A long while, actually. In fact, Nancy was sitting there, chin propped on her hands, watching Yomiko with an expression that reminded Yomiko, with a pulse of pain, of Other Nancy.

There was a long moment of silence, then Yomiko tried, "I'm sorry."

"You care a lot about her," Nancy said. "About Sumiregawa-sensei."

"Yes."

"Did my sister know her?"

"I don't think so?" Nenene hadn't been around during the entire I-Jin...circumstances. She was probably busy writing the final draft of this very book. Perhaps Nancy - _either_ Nancy - had gone to see her, but why? 

"I wish she had," Nancy said wistfully. She reached out and took the book out of Yomiko's hands, setting it neatly between them. "Maybe _I_ can meet her someday."

"Maybe," Yomiko said. She missed Nenene, and her cheerful stubbornness - but the cost would be so high. It wouldn't be safe. _Nancy_ wouldn't be safe. Better to stay in here, and occasionally re-read Nenene's books. It was almost the same thing, anyway.

5) _Sister Of Salome_ , by Michiko Neya

"What was my sister's favorite book?"

It wasn't the first time Nancy asked that question. She'd asked the second time Yomiko came to visit with books to give her, and again in the quiet of the hospital after she'd given birth and Yomiko sat by her bed, and again a couple days after they hid away in the National Diet Library.

The first time, Yomiko said, "A book called _Immortal Beloved_." Which wasn't not true.

The second time, she said, "I don't know."

The third time, she'd said, "I don't know. Maybe this one." And she'd picked one, randomly, off her stack of books and given it to Nancy.

Somehow that had turned it into a game. Now, whenever Nancy couldn't choose, and wanted a new book, she would come to Yomiko and ask the same question. Sometimes she would come and sit down next to Yomiko, and wait until Yomiko noticed she was there, then ask. Sometimes she would ask immediately. And sometimes -

Nancy's arms wrapped around Yomiko's, trapping her in a gentle embrace. "You forgot to eat lunch again," Nancy said into her ear. Yomiko could hear the smile in her voice. "And you haven't answered my question."

"I was reading," Yomiko protested.

"What book?"

"It's called _Sister To Salome._ It's old European history." Yomiko could feel herself blush, and hoped Nancy wouldn't notice. She wasn't _exactly_ lying, but she wasn't exactly telling the truth either. The 'European history' was the first World War, and the book she was reading was about the _original_ Mata Hari.

She hadn't set out to research the originals of the I-Jin. They'd been in hiding for years, now, and the I-Jin had been months before that. But she'd picked up a copy of _Journey To The West_ , which had led to a biography about the historical Genjo Sanzo. That had led to a biography of Genai Hiraga, and one about Jean-Henri Fabre, and one about Otto Lilenthal. She'd even found two about Ikkyu Soujun. But she'd only just dared to go looking for Mata Hari.

"Is it good?"

"I'm only halfway through!"

"Can I read it when you're done?"

Yomiko stared blindly down at the book. "If you want."

She didn't know. Maybe reading the book would somehow jar loose all the bits of Nancy's brain that had gone missing due to the oxygen deprivation. Maybe she would remember terrible things. Maybe she would remember how to be Mata Hari for real, and maybe the real Mata Hari wasn't the Nancy that braided Yomiko's hair and whispered teasing things in her ear and hugged her like this. Maybe Nancy would stop asking about her sister. Maybe Nancy would remember the nightmares that Yomiko still had.

But it wasn't Nancy who had flung Donnie in Yomiko's face, or showed her those pictures and told her with a smile that she was a monster. Even if it wasn't the same Nancy, maybe it didn't matter.

*

A long time later - long after _Sister To Salome_ , and the Carpenter translation of _Art of War_ too, had been sacrificed to make a wall against people trying to kill them, and blades to kill them first - Yomiko got a book in the mail. 

This wasn't unusual, so she didn't think anything much about it until she got the package home and opened it up (it was a book, after all). The book was something called, _Signed, Mata Hari_. Inside was written, _I liked this one better. Love, Nancy._

-end-

**Author's Note:**

> Sadly, almost none of these books are real. (Possibly you don't care, but just in case, it's true.) According to Wikipedia, there really is a book called SISTERS TO SALOME which includes something about the real life Mata Hari: I adjusted the title, and the focus, according to my needs. SIGNED, MATA HARI is also real, but equally unread by me. Thank you, O betas of reassurance, and thank you, dear Yule recipient, for giving me the chance to write about Yomiko - I hope you like the result!


End file.
